Product Review: Caviar Manicure

Ciaté Caviar Manicure™

I simply adore the hot new caviar nails trend. Adding little beads reminiscent of caviar adds a 3-dimiessional look to your nails, and is able to be chic without making you look like you work for a circus. This week my sister purchased Ciaté Caviar Manicure™. There are three different head-turning color combos to choose from, and she selected the nail polish in Strawberry Milkshake (opaque pale pink) that comes with Caviar Pearls in Rainbow ($25 at sephora.com).

The nail kit comes with easy to follow instructions. Here are the steps:

1. Apply a base coat.

2. Paint over the base coat with the Strawberry Milkshake nail color.

3. While the nail polish is still wet, sprinkle the pearlescent beads on top of the nails (you need to work very quickly, before the polish dries). We found the best way to do this is to pour the beads directly onto the nails from the bottle, with a small tray underneath to catch the excess.

4. Apply a top coat over the manicure for a long-lasting finish.

What we liked:

The charming little bow on the nail polish makes the bottle very attractive and stand out on our beauty table – I think it would make a cute gift.

Nail Polish in Strawberry Milkshake

The kit comes with a small funnel, which allowed us to easily pour unused beads back into the bottle.

The nails did look professionally done, and my sister received tons of compliments when she went to work the next day.

There are a variety of different ways you can war the look. You can cover the entire nail with the beads, just apply to the tips, or come up with your own design.

What we didn’t like:

The Strawberry Milkshake polish was as runny as an actual milkshake. It didn’t go on smoothly and has a very loose consistency.

As soon as we applied the top-coat, the colors of the beads began to smear.

Hours after the manicure, the beads began to fall off. By the end of day 2, it looked like a greedy little kid had picked all the sprinkles off of a cupcake and left behind the evidence of little colored stains.

Overall impression: The base polish seems very cheap and is too watery. I would recommend trying the look with a different polish. I think it’s a great option to use a few hours before going out, when you want to wow everyone with glamorous nails. Just be careful when you wave hello to your friends, a bead might dislodge and land in their eye.